Polynyas and the Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

Three polynyas—circular areas free of sea ice—provide tantalizing clues as to why Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is melting at an astonishing 100 meters per year.

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NASA Earth Observatory image created by Robert Simmon using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Caption by Holli Riebeek.

Published November 18, 2011
Data acquired January 13, 2001

Source:

Landsat 7 > ETM+